After a conversation I had with someone the other day, it made me think about how different it is to live in the body compared with the mind. In a way, living in the mind is similar to being on a bouncy castle, while living in the body is similar to being a tree.

The reason for this is that the mind is unstable and is unable to live in the now; it doesn’t have the ability to experience stability or to be present. On the other hand, the body is stable and in the now, and is not thrown around by anything or caught up in what may or may not happen.

A Big Difference

However, although it is far more nourishing to live in the body, it can be normal for someone to believe that the only option they have is to live in their mind. Living in their mind can just be how it is.

Due to the minds dual nature, it is not possible for the mind to be content and to see things without attaching meaning to what it sees. Thus, when someone’s attention is in their mind, there is always going to be something that is not right about their life and what they experience can either be good or bad, or right or wrong.

Divided

So, as what is taking place in their own mind is not harmonious and together, they will see the world as being disharmonious and fractured. As far as their mind is concerned, they will simply be observing what is taking place externally as opposed to projecting an inner split out onto the world.

To the mind, happiness is something that exists in the future, or something that existed in the past – with the past and present simply being the minds creation. The minds incessant need for something else, something more and its inability to simply be in the now makes it impossible for someone to be content and at peace when they have fully indentified with this part of themselves.

A Huge Relief

If someone was to have a massage, a guided relaxation session or even a yoga session, they may be able to get out of their mind and to fall back into their body for a little while. When this happens, it can be as if they have fallen from hell into heaven.

Being in their body is likely to be pleasurable and it will most likely allow them to feel connected and supported. And, if this is how they feel in their own body, it shows that they don’t need anything from the external world to feel this way.

Emotional Baggage

If it was simply a case of falling out of the mind and into the body it would be easy, but if it was this easy there would be no reason for someone to live in their mind to begin with. Their body can be loaded with emotional pain and this can be what stops them from being able to stay in their body.

Living in their head is then going to be painful, yet it can be even more painful for them to live in their body thanks to the amount of pain they have in there. Living in their head is then going to be the lesser of two evils.

Final Thoughts

When someone comes into the world they would have most likely had a strong connection with their body; which means that it would have been clear that they were emotional beings. But, through experiencing trauma at different stages of their life, they would have ended up becoming indentified with their mind and come to see themselves as mental beings.
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So, if someone finds it hard to get out of their mind and to be in their body, something like yoga or Qi Gong may help to get them in their body. Even so, dealing with the trauma that is within them will probably be what will allow them to stay there.

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